Former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff dies at 89
Former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff stands in the center of a group of recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the JFK library. (Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald / Getty Images)
MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas - Former Texas Lt. Gov. William "Bill" Ratliff died Monday at his home in Mount Pleasant, Texas, according to an obituary. He was 89.
Timeline:
Ratliff served as the 40th lieutenant governor of Texas from 2000-2003. He was elected to be acting lieutenant governor by his fellow Texas Senate members to fill the vacancy left when Rick Perry became governor of Texas upon the election of former President George W. Bush. It was the first time Texas senators exercised their right to elect one of their own as lieutenant governor.
Before ascending to the second-highest office in the state, Ratliff represented District 1 in the Texas Senate for 14 years.
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Ratliff, who was born in Eldorado, Texas, is survived by his brother, three children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral information:
Ratliff’s funeral will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant at 2 p.m. Wednesday. He will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin on Thursday.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to the Work4College Program at Northeast Texas Community College.
The Source: Information in this story came from Ratliff's obituary and The Texas Politics Project.